Hori reveals Switch’s clunky headset setup

Remember a few months ago when we first found out that voice chat on the Nintendo Switch would be handled through an app on your smartphone? Remember when Reggie said other console’s voice chat setup was clunky? Well, Hori has just revealed that and it’s far clunkier than the wealth of options you’ll find on other consoles.

The official Splatoon 2 headset from Hori comes with a sound splitter. First, you plug the headset into the splitter, then you plug one cable into your smart device and the other into your Nintendo Switch. The cables are also 0.5 m long.

While the headset itself is nice, and modeled after one that actually appears in Splatoon 2, it’s absurd that this setup should be so complicated. We shouldn’t need three wires and an adapter to do what anyone can do on their PS4, Xbox One, or even PS Vita with either one cable or no cables at all.

I’m praying that this is only Hori’s setup and we learn there’s an easier way to get the game sound and voice chat audio to your headset, but somehow I doubt it. Nintendo’s approach to voice chat really is looking archaic.